432 



METHODISTS. 



Of the members, 1,114,712 are in full con- 

 nection, and 184,226 are *' probationers." 

 The number of churches is 12,048, against 

 11,692 the preceding year. Their value is 

 $47,253,067. The number of parsonages is 

 3,968, against 3,811 the previous year. Their 

 value, $686,230. 



The nnmber of Sunday-schools is 16,393*-, 

 against lo,885 last year; officers and teach- 

 ers, 184,596; scholars, 1,179,984; volumes in 

 libraries, 2,781,480. The number of adult bap- 

 tisms was 61,147; of children, 47,509. Con- 

 ference claimants, $129,777.06 ; Missionary 

 Society, $630,163.20 ; Church extension, 

 $61,565.79 ; Tract Society, $21,312.28 ; Amer- 

 ican Bible Society, $93,048.35; Sunday-school 

 Union, $21,271.45. 



A correspondence was held, during May, 

 between a committee of the bishops of the 

 Methodist Episcopal Church and the bishops 

 of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, in 

 reference to an eventual reunion of the two 

 branches of the Church. In introducing them- 

 selves to the bishops of the Church, South, 

 the Northern bishops said : 



It seems to us that ; as the division of those Churches 

 of our country which are of like faith and order 

 has been productive of evil, so the reunion of them 

 "would be productive of good. As the main cause of 

 the separation has been removed, so has the chief 

 obstacle of the restoration. 



It is fitting that the Methodist Church, which 

 began the disunion, should not be the last to achieve 

 the reunion ; and it would be a reproach to the chief 

 pastors of the separated bodies if they waited until 

 their flocks prompted them to the union which both 

 the love of country and of religion invoke, and which 

 the providence of God seems to render inevitable at 

 no distant day. 



Another letter thus stated the origin and ob- 

 ject of this proposition, and the position of the 

 Methodist Episcopal Church in reference to it : 



At a meeting of the Board of Bishops of the 

 Methodist Episcopal Church, held in Erie, Pa., in 

 June, 1865, we made and published the following 

 declaration : That the great cause which led to the 

 separation from us of both the Wesleyan Methodists 

 of this country and of the Methodist Episcopal Church, 

 South, has passed away, and we trust the day is not 

 far distant when there shall be but one organization, 

 which shall embrace the whole Methodist family in 

 the United States. 



This declaration was made in good faith, and shows 

 what were then our sentiments and feelings, and 

 was deemed by us as the utmost we^were authorized 

 to say or do on the subject at that time. 



Although our late General Conference did not di- 

 rectly authorize us to take further specific action in 

 the matter, yet we judge that some of its acts justify 

 advanced steps on our part. 



In our quadrennial address to the General Con- 

 ference we referred to the declaration above quoted, 

 and no exception was taken to it by that body. 



The General Conference, to promote the union of 

 Methodistic Churches, appointed a commission con- 

 sisting of eight members of that body and the bishops 

 of the Church, who were " empowered to treat with 

 a similar commission from any other Methodist 

 Church " that may desire a union with us. 



We have understood that there were in the minds of 

 many of the members and ministers of the Method- 

 ist Episcopal Church, South, reasons why they con- 

 sider it unsuitable for them to initiate measures to 

 effect a reunion of the two Churches. 



Believing, as we do, that if they were one in both 

 spirit and organization, much more could bo accom- 

 plished for the interests of humanity and for the 

 glory of God, we are desirous of doing all we con- 

 sistently can to promote a reunion on terms alike 

 honorable to both Churches and in the spirit of our 

 Divine Lord. 



